Valgerður Erna Þorvaldsdóttir (ed.) 2007, ‘Anonymous Poems, Brúðkaupsvísur 3’ in Margaret Clunies Ross (ed.), Poetry on Christian Subjects. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 7. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 530-1.
Út gjörðiz atburðr
einnhverr um framan svein
í heimi — horskr maðr
hölda má sá við fjöld*
þar er mildi mærðvalds
móðir lýsti huggóð
dýra, sú er dýrst er,
drótta við sig*-Þrótt.
Einnhverr atburðr um framan svein gjörðiz út í heimi — sá horskr maðr má við fjöld* hölda —, þar er {huggóð móðir {mærðvalds drótta}}, sú er dýrst er, lýsti dýra mildi við {sig*-Þrótt}.
A certain event concerning an outstanding youth took place abroad [lit. out in the world] — that wise man can withstand a multitude of men — where {the kind-hearted mother {of the glory-ruler of mankind}} [= God (= Christ) > = Mary], who is the most noble one, manifested precious mercy to {the battle-Þróttr <= Óðinn>} [WARRIOR].
Mss: 721(14r), 1032ˣ(97v-98v), 399a-bˣ(1-2), 2166ˣ(2)
Readings: [4] fjöld*: fjöldr 721 [5] ‑valds: vald 721 [8] sig*‑: siga 721
Editions: ÍM II, 130.
Notes: [3-4] sá horskr maðr má við fjöld* hölda ‘that wise man can withstand a multitude of men’: This comment by the poet presumably anticipates the young man’s later withstanding pressure from his family and society in general to get married. — [4] fjöld* (f. sg.) ‘multitude’: All mss have fjöldr. Jón Helgason printed the reading from 721 without comment. The word fjöldr cannot be found in any dictionary and is emended to fjöld here. Konráð Gíslason (1846, 76-7) pointed out that occasionally scribes added <r> before or after <ð> due to the similarity of the phonemes. That might be the case here. — [5] valds (m. gen. sg.) ‘ruler’: Jón Helgason emended ‘ualld’ (m. dat. sg.) to valds to provide a determinant in the kenning móðir mærðvalds drótta ‘mother of the glory-ruler of mankind [= God (= Christ) > = Mary]’. — [8] sig* ‘battle’: Jón Helgason emended siga- to sig-. Compounds with the form sig + Óðinn-heiti are not uncommon in skaldic poetry (see LP: sig, n.). However, siga- could still make sense as gen. pl. of sig ‘battle’. — [8] Þróttr: This is the first of several instances in which the poet uses a name of one of the Norse gods or goddesses to form the base-word of a man- or woman-kenning.
Use the buttons at the top of the page to navigate between stanzas in a poem.
The text and translation are given here, with buttons to toggle whether the text is shown in the verse order or prose word order. Clicking on indiviudal words gives dictionary links, variant readings, kennings and notes, where relevant.
This is the text of the edition in a similar format to how the edition appears in the printed volumes.
This view is also used for chapters and other text segments. Not all the headings shown are relevant to such sections.